The unpleasant experience of getting my cervix checked!

[Yamini5]

hi, it’s been just over 4 weeks since I’ve had my baby and the thought of my induction still taunts me. I had 8 cervix checks (where they tried to break my waters) and I needed gas and air for that. I wanted vag birth but with the pain from them trying to break my water I thought I’d never cope. Did anyone else experience this?

[Sunflower35]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I haven’t given birth yet but it is because of experiences like yours that I have chosen a c-section! I also believe that prenatal care and postnatal care really needs improvement, from experiences I have heard from close family and friends. Have you thought about counselling or sharing feedback with your maternity unit about your experience so that they improve the management/level of care provided? Take care!

[Seb9]

Have you asked for a follow up with your hospital to go through your birth? you can speak to PALS and go through them if you feel like you need to talk about your experience.

[Claireeeeeeeeeeeee]

Hi, I know this doesn't help you at all now but I wanted to add this for other people who read this. You can say no to cervix exams at any point, you can ask for an explanation why etc. Midwifes tend to make it seem like everything they say has to happen now or at all but it doesn't. With my first I had 2 cervix exams and that was the most painful part of my whole birth, the whole I did without any pain relief. Also they were both unnecessary the first I could tell I wasn't ready to push and 2nd I felt like I needed to push so I was fully dilated. With my 2nd I refused any cervix exams and that was written on my notes each time but there was no pain. I am not saying everyone should say no to them but understand why they want to do them. Also they hurt so much more than giving birth as it's not a natural part of labour it's a medical intervention that your body isn't designed for.

I really hope you get some closure on your birth and if you ever give birth again I highly recommend taking a hypnobirthing course for helping move past this birth.

[Yamini5 in reply to Claireeeeeeeeeeeee]

Thanks so much, it’s great to know

[Beckylcarter87 in reply to Claireeeeeeeeeeeee]

Sorry but cervical examinations do not hurt “so much more than giving birth” I’m pretty sure pushing my sons head out of my VJJ was far more excruciating than the 2 cervical examinations I had during birth. Yeah they were uncomfortable but required and they let me know how far along I was which greatly helped my experience.

[Saffy44]

This is a bit of an unnecessarily concerning headline here. I have to be included is she’s not early, so this is scaring me. Please think of others. If one was so painful you could have asked for an alternative method, there are pessaries and drips for induction too. I’ve only heard of three sweeps been done before, 8 seems slightly excessive it clearly wasn’t working so another approach would have been better. PALS if you’re not happy with your treatment.

[Milliemoo6 in reply to Saffy44]

I agree. All labour is painful no matter how it starts and I know many people who have had very quick and positive inductions.

[Seb9 in reply to Saffy44]

I had one check of my cervix in my second pregnancy to see if I'd need the balloon induction and the pain was no worse than having a smear. I just had a coil fitted and that was probably more painful for me. They then broke my waters on attempt number 2.

My first induction, it did take the midwife a while to break my waters and I just concentrated on the gas and air. I also ended up having a massive giggling fit (I think because of the gas and air) because I felt the midwife got more of a sweat on trying to break my waters, than my husband did getting me into the situation in the first place and then I couldn't tell them why I was laughing 🤣🙈🙊

[FlyerFlower777]

You advocate for you and your baby. I just had a c section on Tuesday for our beautiful girl to arrive. I had also considered all the interventions etc and had refused them and opted for a section. I’m 43, almost 44. Baby arrived safely and perfectly which is what we wanted- no special interventions needed etc. like sweeps, forceps and ventouse etc etc but I have to say, my section was and is no easy option. I chose it so she could arrive without all the usual potential interventions and risk of pain or damage to her. So you be strong and advocate for what you want and what you feel best for you and baby. I wish you good luck xxx

[Yamini5 in reply to FlyerFlower777]

Thank you so much. I did at the end. I opted for a c section purely because I knew the ins and outs.

Congratulations on your bundle of joy! Enjoy every second 😘😘

[FlyerFlower777 in reply to Yamini5]

And to you too! Xxx 😘 I meant to add, TALK. Talk talk talk all your thoughts out. I was trying to write a response to you and others who would read it and be worried… we all have to advocate for ourselves and our little bundles.

We are smitten.. how blessed we are. Enjoy xxx

[Yamini5]

Saffy44 - did you learn something? Did you learn that more sweeps could be done? Other people including myself - did you learn that there are other options, other alternatives than a sweep? If the answer is yes, then my job is done! I did learn something, therefore in my next pregnancy I can refuse.

As for thinking of others - I apologise to all that may be traumatised by this - but I did put a “unnecessarily concerning headline” to warn people.

[LdS87]

I would suggest that you speak with the PALS team at your hospital to discuss your birth or speak with your health visitor/ GP as they will be able to refer you for PTSD counselling. They offered this to me at my 6 week check up due to me having a traumatic birth experience.

I would say though that your title is quite misleading and this isn't fair on women that may be reading this whilst heavily pregnant. I think you need to speak to someone in private rather than putting it on here. My birth was far from straightforward however I would never say it wasn't a positive experience as my son arrived here safely and we are both ok

[Yamini5 in reply to LdS87]

Hi. Thanks for that. I have an appointment next week so I will defo ask about that.

The reason I put it on here is because I wanted to see if there were other people who had the same/ similar experience to me. I think speaking to someone in private I wouldn’t know that or who or what their experiences is and how they coped with it personally.

I understand how the title could be misleading, therefore I have changed it.

[Bozo_the_pumpkin in reply to Yamini5]

Your post was useful to me… I am 39 weeks pregnant. Thank you-I learnt from comments posted in response

[ANONYMOUSBABY]

I remember the pain when they were checking my dilation. Honestly the worst ever. Even after birth that’s the bit I remember the worst

[Hopingtobecomeamummy]

Just wanted to say I’m glad you posted this. It’s confirmed what I thought the cervical checks would be like. Currently 37 weeks. In terms of people saying you’re fear mongering, I say that’s rubbish! It’s better to hear real experiences and to educate yourself before you go into labour so you can make informed choices and not end up traumatised.

We have done a hypnobirthing course and luckily were told we can decline any cervical checks if we chose. Which we will be as they don’t really tell the staff anything as you can go from 2cm to 10cm in 10 minutes or 10 hours so checking where you are in labour isn’t really useful in gauging time because every woman is different. So I really don’t see the point. Plus I don’t fancy being pulled around during labour. We have been told it can actually stall your progress of labour.

Hope you manage to heal from your experience!

[Cheekymonkey85 in reply to Hopingtobecomeamummy]

It’s not what cervical checks are like for everyone, that’s what was meant by fear mongering. They were clearly very uncomfortable for this lady, but many of us experience things very differently. Mine were mildly uncomfortable, certainly not traumatic- that’s my real experience. I’ve had 3 babies, 5 sweeps in total plus checks on progression of labour. You are correct in saying that they can’t determine how long labour will be, but that doesn’t mean they are totally useless. Midwives will want to check where your up to when you first arrive at hospital, so they know if your in active labour or not. They don’t actually like to check too frequently, usually every 4 hours or so and they certainly aren’t pushy about it so will be completely fine if you refuse. Some pain relief won’t be given until you are past 4cms as you aren’t considered in active labour until that point so it’s worth having at least 1 check when you arrive. Even if pain relief isn’t part of your plan now (and totally doable), things might change once you get there xx

[Hopingtobecomeamummy in reply to Cheekymonkey85]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I’ve always found internal examinations painful and we have had lots of tests due to unexplained infertility. We are aiming for the least intervention possible during labour including cervical checks. We were advised that good midwives can tell what stage a women is at by how she is acting and the checks will only stall labour. As you say everyone is very different. Congrats on your three babies!

[Beckylcarter87 in reply to Hopingtobecomeamummy]

It is not the case that everyone finds cervical checks extremely painful so please don’t make a decision on one persons experience. I had 2 cervical checks during labour - one at the start to see I was 2cm’s and then I asked for another one hours down the line as I wanted to know how far along I was - turned out I was 10cm’s and ready to push! Both were slightly uncomfortable but nothing worse than a smear test. Once you are in active labour nothing hurts more than the contractions, I don’t think I even felt the midwife put her hand in for the 2nd check as my contractions were so strong! Also the checks I had certainly didn’t stall my labour, the whole thing only lasted 6 hours from start to finish. I am a little worried about this new narrative of refusing all cervical checks during labour - it seems to be snowballing and more and more women seem to be being told by non-medical professionals to refuse them and in turn start to distrust midwives and their practice. Trust me, when you’re in the midst of labour you’ll be begging those midwives for all and any help they can give you!

[Hopingtobecomeamummy in reply to Beckylcarter87]

I politely disagree and we have spent time, money and energy on a hynobirthing course that has taught us a different mindset to what you describe. Refusing cervical checks isn’t a new narrative- I am also doing a breast feeding course and The Thompson method advises not to have cervical checks and the midwife that runs the course has been doing so for 30 odd years. There is so much research on this available it surprises me that people still stick to what they know. Everyone has a choice and an opinion and as I said before each to their own. I wish everyone luck in their journey and their choice to do what is best for them.

[Jogsandwalks]

I begged the midwife for a sweep to get my labour going as I was 41 weeks at that point. It was just a bit uncomfortable. The sweeps which followed that to check my dilation were also uncomfortable but necessary; it was fine. It turns out, I wasn't dilating fast enough so I had to go on the induction drip to get things moving- now those contractions were painful!

For me, its important to have sweeps to see how things are going. I agree with others who say if women start saying no to cervical checks, it won't be good.

Having a baby is painful, end of, no matter what you do. The pay off is the little bundle you get to take home afterwards.

In all every experience is different and it is perfectly valid for you to be traumatised by them. For me it was sewing up my perineum that still gives me the shivers. Always ask for TWO syringes of local anesthetic because clearly one wasn't enough for me.

[Beckylcarter87 in reply to Jogsandwalks]

Totally agree with everything you have said above - having a baby is painful - end of!Also I hear you on the sewing up your perineum at the end, I was so glad that my baby was out I told them to sew me up without any pain relief as I just wanted everything over and done with fast…big mistake! I think I’ll remember that feeling for the rest of my life.

Agree everyone’s experience is different and everyone feels things differently so although I may disagree with what I see as a fairly new attitude of refusing cervical checks, I agree that women deserve to have control over their own care during one of the most vulnerable moments of their life so the decision should be theirs.

Wishing everyone safe and happy deliveries of their precious bundles! X x